Read it and weep. The coverage of the Arbuckle trial was even more brutal than you might think. Reporters were shamefully biased in their coverage--probably because yellow journalism sold papers.

The excerpts here are transcribed directly from original 1921 copies of The Bulletin, a San Francisco-based publication located at 517 Clay Street. Though not published by William Randolph Hearst, the paper clearly took its cues from Hearst's style of journalism, already running rampant in the Hearst-controlled San Francisco Examiner and the San Francisco Morning Call. (And it would be only eight years before Hearst acquired the Bulletin as well.)

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The Bulletin (9/10/21)

The Bulletin (9/12/21)

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Telegram from William Randolph Hearst to Adolph Zukor, September 21, 1921:
WilliamRandolphHearst.jpg
W. R. Hearst
Will do best I can. It is difficult to keep news out of a newspaper. I agree that certain kinds of publicity detrimental to moving pictures but the people who get into the courts and coroners offices are responsible. The newspapers are no more responsible than the courts are. I too would like to see unfavorable publicity avoided in the industry which we both represent. Thanks for the telegram.

Hearst

SOURCE: Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences Margaret Herrick Library, Zukor Collection, "Correspondence"

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Front page of The (San Francisco) Bulletin, September 10, 1921

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